Lord Woolf’s report on ethical standards at BAE Systems highlights the intense pressure for reform of Britain’s archaic anti-corruption laws, amid growing embarrassment at the lack of successful prosecutions.

The Law Commission has proposed a long-awaited overhaul of the rules, but critics accuse the government of hypocrisy for lecturing other countries on the evils of bribery while failing to pursue the very British companies that are suspected of paying the money.